Max Lucado Daily: He Will Come For Us
He Will Come For Us
Posted: 12 Jan 2011 10:01 PM PST
“I will come back and take you to be with me.” John 14: 3
We don’t know when Christ will come for us. We don’t know how he will come for us. And we really don’t know why he would come for us . . . Most of what we have is faith. Faith that he has ample space and a prepared place, and at the right time, he will come so that we can be where he is.
He will do the taking. It’s up to us to do the trusting.
Exodus 13
Consecration of the Firstborn
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”
3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.
11 “After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
14 “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”
Crossing the Sea
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”
20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 8:28-39
Romans 8:28-39 (NIV)Ro 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Contract Faith
January 13, 2011 — by Philip Yancey
All things work together for good to those who love God. —Romans 8:28
Sometimes people who serve God live with an unstated “contract faith.” Because they give time and energy to work for God, they think they deserve special treatment in return.
But not my friend Douglas. He has lived a Job-like existence in many ways, experiencing the failure of a ministry, his wife’s death from cancer, and injuries from a drunk driver to himself and a child. Yet Douglas advises, “Don’t confuse God with life.”
When troubles come and doubts arise, I often turn to Romans 8. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” asked Paul. “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (v.35). In that one sentence, Paul summarized his ministry autobiography. He endured trials for the sake of the gospel; yet somehow he had the faith to believe that these “things”—surely not good in themselves—could be used by God to accomplish good. He had learned to see past the hardships to a loving God who will one day prevail. He wrote, “I am persuaded that [nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ” (vv.38-39).
Confidence like that can go a long way in helping overcome discouragement about how life hasn’t worked out the way we thought it would.
For Further Study
Wondering about the reasons for your trials?
Read the online booklet Why Would A Good God
Allow Suffering? at www.discoveryseries.org/q0106
He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. —Philippians 1:6
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 13th, 2011
Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (2)
When He was alone . . . the twelve asked Him about the parable —Mark 4:10
His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. Notice Jesus Christ’s training of the Twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. His disciples constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them, but they didn’t understand until after they received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
As you journey with God, the only thing He intends to be clear is the way He deals with your soul. The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person’s struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance the Holy Spirit has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies? Jesus cannot teach us anything until we quiet all our intellectual questions and get alone with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Voice From the Grave - #6264
Thursday, January 13, 2011
They've tried a lot of things to discourage people from smoking; especially now that we know the great health hazards of it. In fact, recently, maybe you've seen that they're trying to put some disturbing pictures on the packages themselves of people dying of lung cancer. They already do that it in some other countries. But I think one of the most impacting things I've ever seen along those lines was a commercial that was done on TV years ago. There was a great award winning actor named Yul Brynner. You may remember him; he had a very distinctive accent and shaved head. He was in a lot of great movies. He was the star of The King and I, and he died of lung cancer. His lung cancer was caused by a lifetime of smoking, and they filmed this public service announcement shortly before his death. He knew he was dying, and basically in it he says, "Take it from me, it's not worth it. It's too late for me, but you still have time to change." Man that hit hard. In a sense, he was a voice from the grave with a very sobering warning. Well, there's another one that's even more sobering.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Voice From the Grave."
I hear a lot of people theorizing about what happens after we die. Some people say, "Well, I believe there's a heaven, but not a hell." Other people say, "Well, I think there might be a hell, but not a heaven." Somebody says, "I don't think there's a heaven or a hell." Somebody else says, "Well, in my opinion, I think we go around again and again and again and keep coming back." See, this is one thing you don't want to be wrong about. You don't want to be wrong about what happens when you die and what it takes to get ready for it. If you're wrong, you're eternally wrong.
See, everybody's guessing. How can we know? Well, how about a voice from the grave? Luke 16 , our word for today from the Word of God, beginning at verse 23, Jesus is telling about a rich man who has gone to hell, and Lazarus, a poor man who has gone to heaven. And the rich man in hell is addressing Abraham. The Bible says, "In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called to Him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received bad? He is comforted while you are in agony, and besides all this between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from over there to us.' He answered, 'I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them.'"
Here's a man who died with his sins unforgiven. He was not in a state of mind; he was not reincarnated. He was not in heaven. He was separated from God by a great gulf; alone and suffering without relief. And here, like Yul Brynner in that old commercial, he comes back from the grave to warn others of what he knows is there.
What I'm about to say is not my theory; it is from God's Word. Your decision about Jesus Christ is life or death. It is a heaven or hell choice. See, God never meant for anyone to be in hell. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. But we rebelled against God, and you can't enter heaven with sin. It's only if the penalty has been paid, and Jesus paid that penalty when He died on the cross. He took your hell so you could go to His heaven.
But now you have to take Jesus into your life to be forgiven. God doesn't send anyone to hell; we send ourselves by rejecting His provision in Jesus Christ. Do not procrastinate. There is eternity at stake. Right now you can tell Him, "Jesus, beginning this day, I am yours." A lot of people at this point, this crossroads moment, have gone to our website and found a lot of help there. I hope you'll go there. And whether you want to get the information by video there or in text, go to YoursForLife.net, and you'll see there how you can be sure you belong to Jesus Christ.
A man speaks to us from beyond death. He says, "It's too late for me, but you still have time to change." Listen to this man who died without Christ. He knows.